So I was on my way home from AB Tech today, just cruising along, brain dead from the previous 4.5 hours of algebra and chemistry, and just sorta thinking about how lucky I was to still have my car in one piece after a woman driving a tractor-trailer had almost taken me out that morning. And well after passing 12 bones and practically crying because of good it smelled and how hungry I was, I got under the west gate bridge and noticed this car violently trying to back over one of those concrete car stoppers they put in parking lots. HAHA. Apparently the poor guy went to make a u-turn and just didn’t see it. Needless to say, that Buick didn’t sound so hot when he finally got it back up and over the thing. I felt bad about laughing, but as mushy as my brain was, I just couldn’t help it. Once I got a little further down Riverside Drive I noticed a column of black smoke coming from something on down the road, and I have to say… as many times as I’ve driven back and forth to AB Tech, I’ve never seen anything on the side of the road that was on fire, so there I was trying to make sure I wasn’t dreaming because everything had just seemed so weird so far. Well I came around the curve and there was the black smoke coming out of this very nice looking business/office looking building, and of course my first thought was “Dang, either the place is on fire, or they burnt whatever it is they make in there…” Then I noticed their sign by the road and waited until I was close enough to make out what it said. (I am very nearsighted.) I felt like a real idiot when I read “Asheville Area Alternative Funeral and Cremation Services.” Call me immature, but I held my breath as I drove by and rolled the windows up… Just wasn’t really in the mood to inhale someone’s grandfather. I still can’t really figure out why that was so shocking to me… I mean I know crematoriums exist all over the place, and doing it for funeral purposes is nothing like what Elie Wiesel wrote about in “Night,” but I had never actually seen one before… As many times as I’ve passed that building, I never realized that’s what it was until I saw the smoke. Oh, and in class I got stepped on.. by a guy wearing high heels… It’s just been one of those days.
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